Aberg earns Canada West first star of the week after explosive performance against Pronghorns

Another explosive offensive game from Madison Aberg, and a pair of shutouts coupled with a rare assist from the keeper position for Patrick Pranger have landed the duo Canada West first star of the week honours for the week ending Oct. 1, 2017.

Aberg, who leads CW in women’s rugby scoring through three weeks with 50 points, posted 25 points in the Vikes 59-20 win over Lethbridge on the weekend to earn the women’s first star. With the victory, Victoria improved their record to 3-0 on the season.

On the men’s side, Saskatchewan’s Pranger posted a pair of clean sheets, even adding an assist in the Huskies’ 4-0 win Thursday over the MacEwan Griffins. The Austrian now has five shutouts to his name this season – tied for second in the conference with UBCO’s Mitch McCaw, who is this week’s men’s second star.

Pranger and his Huskie teammates are off this weekend, as are Aberg and the Vikes. Both stars return to action the following weekend, in the final women’s rugby weekend of the regular season, and the second to last weekend of men’s soccer regular season play.

A perfect start to the season continued this past weekend for the UVic Vikes women’s rugby team as they picked up a 59-20 victory over the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Playing a huge role in the team’s third-straight victory was third-year centre Madison Aberg. The Social Sciences student from Calgary, Alta. not only scored five tries in the game, four in the first half, but she was also a key cog in the Vikes defence making multiple key tackles.

Aberg now leads the conference with 50 points through just three games and has the chance to improve upon that total when the Vikes wrap up their regular season schedule with a game against the Calgary Dinos on Oct. 15.

Fourth-year University of Saskatchewan keeper Patrick Pranger made 10 saves to help the Huskies to an undefeated weekend series.

The fourth-year Austrian exchange student made six saves in a 4-0 win on Thursday against the MacEwan Griffins. He also assisted on the Huskies’ third goal of the afternoon.

On Sunday, Pranger earned his fifth clean sheet of the season making four saves against the No. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears in a 0-0 tie. Two of his saves came in the last three minutes of the match.

Pranger and the Huskies enter a bye week before travelling to meet the Calgary Dinos and Mount Royal Cougars on October 14-15.

The Bison women’s soccer team wants to earn their way into the U SPORTS nationals not just as a host, but as a CW playoff team. The Herd took a big step towards that goal by taking four of a possible six points on the road in two weekend matches over the weekend in Alberta.

Bison second-year goalkeeper Justina Jarmoszko was a major contributor, as she earned two blank sheets with consecutive shutouts and made 16 total saves over the two contests.

To start the weekend on Sat., Sept. 30, the Winnipeg native was the star of the match as she thwarted several close chances by the host Calgary Dinos to earn a valuable point for the Herd in a 0-0 draw. She was selected as match MVP for her 12-save shutout effort.

The next day, Manitoba won 3-0 at Lethbridge and Jarmoszko continued to be a brick wall as she earned another shutout with a four-save performance, contributing to the first road victory of the 2017 season for the Bisons.

Jarmoszko is first in conference saves with 64, tied for second in CW minutes played at 720, tied for seventh with three conference shutouts and ninth in Canada West save percentage at .831 while playing in all eight matches so far this season.

The Bisons (2-4-2) are now in a playoff spot in sixth place in Prairie Division and play a home-and-home series with the Winnipeg Wesmen (1-6-1) on October 7-8.

A tough weekend matchup against fellow Pacific Division rivals Trinity Western and UFV – whom the Heat lost to earlier this season – turned into two victories behind the play of fifth-year keeper Mitch McCaw, who recorded his third and fourth straight shutouts to extend UBC Okanagan’s unbeaten streak to five.

On Saturday against the Spartans, themselves off an impressive weekend where they shutout the defending national champion Alberta Golden Bears, both keepers were brilliant. McCaw, however, was just a little bit better, outlasting TWU to win 1-0. Four key saves were made by McCaw to finish the Spartans.

The only save McCaw made in the Sunday shutout was a beauty, as he got his hands up in time to deflect a rocket over the crossbar early in the match against UFV. The corner cross was then hauled in by McCaw to end the threat. The entire match the management student controlled the pace by commanding his box and controlling the action in his end.

With the wins, UBC Okanagan now find themselves in second-place in the division with UNBC coming to town for two straight matches this Saturday-Sunday.

Spartans fourth-year striker Seina Kashima helped lead Trinity Western to a pair of home wins over UBC Okanagan (4-0) and Thompson Rivers (5-0) thanks to back-to-back strong performances that included a three-point (2G, 1A) night against the WolfPack.

With her 22nd career conference assist, Kashima moved into the top five in the Canada West record books for all-time assists. She is now tied with alum Krista Gommeringer for the TWU all-time career assists mark. Kashima, who played 60 minutes against the Heat before a 73-mintue effort against TRU, was also part of a strong team defence that earned the Spartans their fifth consecutive clean sheet. TWU has now gone 466 minutes without conceding a goal.

The weekend victories improved TWU’s record to 6-2-0. The Spartans will now prepare to play Fraser Valley in a home-and-home series starting Friday in Langley, B.C. before the rematch Saturday in Abbotsford, B.C.

Mitch Popadynetz gave fans at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops their money’s worth this weekend.

After setting up the team’s lone goal in their first home field loss on Saturday against UFV, the native of Nelson, BC put on a show to lead his team back from a 3-0 deficit Sunday at home against Trinity Western.

Popadynetz showed why he is one of the Canada West’s most potent offensive weapons, as he scored twice including one in extra time and added an assist on TRU’s tying marker (also in bonus time) in a dramatic 3-3 tie.

He leads the league with nine assists, is third in goals with five, and has moved atop the CW points race with 14. He also stands fourth in the Canada West in shots with 31.

The WolfPack are off Thanksgiving Day weekend and return to play with a road trip October 13-14 at Victoria and UBC.

Christopher Kelsall is a co-founder of Victoria Sports News. He is also the owner of Athletics Illustrated, a website all about the sport of running and track and field that has a global audience.
Played over a dozen sports, run coach, soccer coach and family man.

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